


Conduit

by Alifredson



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Dear John Letter, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Ranger History, Ranger Mythology, The Letter was a Lie, Turns out Ranger Powers are super complicated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 11:39:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13833507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alifredson/pseuds/Alifredson
Summary: One day, out of the blue, Kimberly shows up on Tommy's doorstep with two boxes, a few half-explanations, and a cryptic warning, before disappearing again. Now, Tommy has to decipher what the hell went wrong, where the hell Kimberly disappeared to this time, and what the hell is about the happen.The Letter sort of- Fix-it, Dino Thunder missing scenes/rewrite, Tomberly (forever)





	Conduit

**Author's Note:**

> We're giving this a go. It's been swimming around my head for a least a month. So, after working a full 8-hour day, sitting through 3 hours of patent law class, and having 2 glasses of wine for dinner at 11PM, here's a first chapter. I'd like to promise regular updates, especially since I have a pretty decent idea of how I'd like this to go, but I need to study for the bar exam and need to rewatch Dino Thunder to make this all work.

The sound of the doorbell about scared Tommy clear out of his skin. He was sitting on his couch, enjoying, for once, a little bit of mindless television while surfing the web with on his cellphone. And that was what made him jump. His cell phone was supposed to receive notifications of anything that set off the perimeter alarms- which were 360 degrees around the house and two layers deep. He should have received two notifications of someone coming before they hit his porch and another when they actually rang the doorbell. Yet, here he was, heart racing, sitting on his couch with exactly zero notifications of anything setting off the perimeter alarms or the alarm attached to his doorbell.

 

The alarms were Hayley’s tech. Hayley’s tech was infallible. Hayley set up his phone to get the alerts, service or not. Hayley was infallible. Something was not right.

 

He’d been sitting, frozen, for nearly half a minute going over the impossibility of his doorbell ringing. It hadn’t rung again yet. There was no knock on the door. Perhaps he had imagined it? It was impossible-

 

The doorbell chimed again. Somehow, this time, Tommy’s autopilot took over and he jumped up, walking to the door and looking out the spyhole that Hayley, in a paranoid state, had insisted he install.

 

Tommy’s heart stopped.

 

The person at his front door seemed to be taking inventory of his front porch. The face was gaunt, dark bags under the eyes, hair thin and somewhat unkempt, but the identity undeniable.

_Kimberly_.

 

It had been years since anyone had heard from her; even longer since anyone had actually seen her.

 

A seeming lifetime since _Tommy_ had seen her.

 

Without a second thought, or any thought at all really, Tommy yanked open the door, startling the woman on his porch. He vaguely wondered how he managed to not pull the door off its hinges. (He’d later find that while he hadn’t actually dislodged the door from its frame, he had loosened it considerably. Longer screws were needed to ensure the sturdiness and security of the door, much to Hayley’s amusement.)

 

“ _Kimberly?_ ” He heard. Somehow, his body, and mouth, were now reacting completely without his brain’s knowledge, direction, or approval.

 

She cleared her throat and looked down toward her feet before faintly responding. “Hi Tommy.”

 

An uncomfortable stretch of silence ensued.

 

God, she was still beautiful. But she looked so sad. And thin. And hadn’t she worn that same shirt when they were teenagers?

 

“Uh…” She clearned her throat again. “I’m so sorry to show up like this, after so long,” Kimberly began, talking faster than Tommy had ever hear her speak, “it’s just that you’re the person they would go to, especially with what’s about to happen and your history, and it’s only a matter of time for me now. And this has to be _safe_. And I can’t… I can’t keep it safe anymore.”

 

And suddenly something clicked (probably, Tommy would later realize, the words _only a matter of time for me_ ). Tommy found himself firmly in control of his body and mind.

 

And his emotions.

 

He was bombarded with anger for the worry she had caused himself and their friends, worry because she looked so unlike herself, betrayal he had as of yet still be unable to let go of from her letter, relief that she was here, alive, okay.

 

And Love. The love hit him like a freight train, so hard he gripped the door to keep himself from falling down. How on Earth was he still this in love with her? She broken up with him years ago.

 

Kimberly, completely unaware of Tommy’s internal monologue, continued on, only slightly slower. “I need you to take this,” she handed him a box, the dimension of a slightly thick book. “Someday, someone from some team is going to come around saying weird, maybe awful things are happening to them. Give them this. This box will only open to a specific person, my successor. But they need this. They need to know. I’ve put in everything I could to help them…” She held the box out to him.

 

“Kim?” He didn’t take the box or make any move to do so. “Where have you _been_? Everyone has been trying to find you for _years._ God. Trini died! She-“

 

“I know. I know she died. I can’t explain. I wish I could, but I can’t. When someone comes one day and opens this box… well, I asked them to explain to you and to the others, but I can’t right now. Please.” She extended the box toward Tommy, who took it before putting it on the hall table next to him, stricken silent again.

 

Kim tentatively turned to pick up another larger box she had set on a chair he had placed on his porch. She spoke much slower this time, pushing the box into his hands. “This… this is for you. I can’t keep any of this safe anymore and I need to know that it’s all safe. I can’t explain everything that’s happened, but I need you to understand that everything I did was to protect you. You, and the team, and my family, and well, _everyone._  But mostly you, Tommy. There’s journals in the box that I’ve written in every time I wanted to talk to you. Maybe they’ll give you peace. I hope they give you peace.

 

“I never wanted to hurt you. Never. But I needed to protect you.” Kim looked close to tears now. Tommy reached out to try to comfort her, but she moved away.

 

There was the sound of gravel crunching under tires and a hum of an engine.

 

“You’re about to face some awful trials. Something is likely to happen that will bring back one of the worst times in your life. Be strong, Tommy. Please be strong.”

 

The car that had been coming up Tommy’s driveway was now parked. The driver, Hayley, was out and the driver’s side door made enough noise to make Kimberly jump.

 

“I’m so sorry Tommy. For everything. I’m so, so, so, so, so, so sorry.” Kimberly’s shoulders dropped and she turned, running down the steps of the porch, past Hayley, into the woods and out of sight.

 

In her wake she left Tommy, clutching the second box she had passed over, and a supremely confused and concerned Hayley.


End file.
